Range-finding and sighting appliance for weapons.



No. 766,658. PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904. L. O. BBAL.

RANGE FINDING AND SIGHTING APPLIANCE FOR WEAPONS.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 5, 1901.

N0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Patented August 2, 1904.

LATHAM OSBORN BEAL, OF DUNEDIN, NEWV ZEALAND.

RANGE-FINDING AND SIGHTING APPLIANCE FOR WEAPONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,658, dated August 2, 1904,

Application filed December 5, 1901. Serial No. 84,794. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LATHAM OsBoRN BEAL, civil engineer and major in New Zealand, volunteer force, engineer district staff officer of Otago in New Zealand, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 49 Moray Place, in the city of Dunedin, in the British Colony of New Zealand, have invented certain new and useful Improved Range Finding and Sighting Appliance for \Veapons, of which the following is a specification.

The objects of this invention are to form sights for use in any service gun, rifle, sporting-piece, or any gun or firing-piece requiring sighting appliances that-not only can the sighting be done quicker and more effectively, but the range or distance from the firer to the object to be fired at can be found or judged with great accuracy for any range without disastrious loss of time and may be life involved, as at present. There is no V or point to aline; but the sights are formed as apertures, which are found to be more effective by far, as the object can usually be seen all round, and the sight is not so limited as in existing sights. W'indage also is far easier judged than by the deviation from a nick and point, as there are the edges of the apertures as well as the centers from which to judge after observing the last shot. Light and shade do not dazzle, as in the present sights, and it is found that the sights are more effective either in strong light or in night work than those at present in use.

By the sights now in use much time is lost by often wrongly judging the distance at first, by the adjustment and consequent readjustment of the sight, and the possible loss of view of the object in doing so, whereas, especially with a magazine-weapon, the eye once on an object need not be removed either during the finding of the range or altering the same or firing many shots. The canting of the piece sidewise is also avoided, unless done on purpose, as the least deviation from the vertical of the sights can instantly be observed from their formation, as it causes instant derangement of the alinement.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an ordinary service-rifle as now in use, suflicient being shown to explain the invention and to which the invention is applicable. Fig. 2 is the firers view of the improved back sight, and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 4 is my improved fore sight with the simple range-finding appliance; and Fig. 5 is a side view of the same as a fixture; but should any user prefer it it is obvious that it may fold and be shielded as the back sight. Fig. 6 is modification of Fig. 4. The side view would be as Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 is a slight modification of Fig. 2, and Fig. 3 would be a side View of it.

A A is any weapon to which the invention is applicable.

B is the back sight, preferably hinged and shielded in the usual way, (see B.)

The figures in Fig. 2and they would probably also be put in Fig; 7are the number of one hundred yards to the object to be fired at. Thus 7 is the aperture from which to sight for a seven-hundred-yards range.

C is a fore sight with an aperture other than square, and D is the fore sight, considered the best, having a square or oblong aperture. To find the range or distance from the firer to the object to be fired at and taking the rifle shown as an example, it being sighted as for service, if a man appeared the height of the aperture C or D-that is, if when looking through one of the apertures in B and also in the fore sight a mans feet appeared at O and his head at C-he would be five hundred yards away. Now if the eye were looking through another aperture it would be shifted to aperture 5, and the sight would be from the center of aperture 5 in the back sight to the center of the aperture in the fore sight. A man on horseback at the same distance would appear as high as from C to C. If, say, a man appeared but half the height from C to C, he would be one thousand yards away, and so on.

It is obvious that more points might be made and scaled on the fore sight; but gen-v erally it might lead to confusion, and the ranges can be easily judged in practice from the above marks. VVindage is allowed for by sighting to the edges of the apertures or.

partly to them.

In extreme cases the windage-sight may be to the outside edge of the fore sight, and it is obvious that such sights are preferable to mere divergence from V or edge sights.

The even ranges are of different width to the odd ranges for more convenience of instantly knowing the range. When judged so, the eye need not be distracted in picking out the range-aperture; otherwise they might be of equal width, marked merely by nicks and the like. The figures can be perforated or merely stamped on. Weapons for other Work, as game, can be calculated and sighted for any particular game at a given distance, and when setting out the graduated back sight the strength of charge, projectile, and the nature of the explosive must be calculated. This may. slightly alter the relative distances shown, which are calculated for a service-rifle with the usual service-cartridge.

In Fig. 7 the nicks in the apertures are merely to mark the centers of the apertures more definitely. Projections instead of nicks would do the same thing.

In this invention any suitable material or size may be used.

Having now described my improvement, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States of America, is

1. The combination with a firearm, of a front sight having an aperture of predetermined depth, and an apertured rear sight arranged at a definite or known distance from said front sight, having a plurality of super posed divisions, each cooperative with the aperture in the front sight.

2. The combination with a firearm, of a front sight having an aperture of predetermined depth, and an apertured rear sight, the apertures in the rear sight being of alternately different widths and each being cooperative with the aperture in the front sight.

3. The combination witha firearm, of a front sight consisting of a block having a view-aperture therein, of a rear sight com-' prising a plate provided centrally with a series of apertures arranged vertically one above the other, each of said apertures being of less height than the aperture immediately above it, and the alternate apertures'being wider than the intervening apertures, substantially as shown and described and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LATHAM OSBORN BEAL. 

